OK, what do people feel is the best small arm of WWII?

Could be based on numbers issued, effectiveness, influence on future designs, etc...

I'm not so sure of my answer, but the M1 Garand and Mauser K98 would be good choices.

Maybe one of the German anti-tank weapons, the panzerfaust, etc.

What would you choose?

Steve

I think that the M1 Garand and the Carbine were excellent weapons and were obviously far superior the their bolt-action counterparts.
For this reason, I think that they were the best small arms of the War.

Andrew

I vote for the M1Garand. It's accurate, reliable, and has a high rate of fire. Of course, I might be a little biased.

I would vote for the Garand. A friend of mine was in the Marines in the 60's and their unit had stopped in Malta (I believe). They had a target competition using their rifles (I don't remember if he said M-14 or the M-16) against the Maltese with Garands. The Maltese whipped their butts.
Eric

This forum is starting to sound like a scratched record! I'm not about to help matters by concurring with the previous posts and say that I also think that the M1 was the best. It was superior to most weapons in stopping power, range, durability, ease of maintenance, and rate of fire (for rifles). These assets more than made up for its main fault, that the magazine could not be topped off once loaded. I know from first-hand experience that they are excellent rifles, as several deer and elk, and one bear, will attest. My father and older brother have also been able to compare the M1 to later U.S. personal weapons and preferred the M1.
To cap things off, if the M1 was good enough for George S. Patton to call it the finest battle implement ever made, that's good enough for me.

My vote goes to the Sturmgewehr 44.
The first 'real assault rifle'.

Ahhhh, I completely forgot about this "rifle". In terms of quality, it is certainly the best small arm of the War but the fact that it entered production so late and so few were used makes it subordinate to other weapons in terms of War Winning status.

Andrew

I was hoping someone would mention this. Maybe not the best for the time or able to make much of a difference, but millions of AK's can't be wrong...

Yeah, M1 was great. Must be some Enfield fans out there too. I'm sure a few of us still own an SMLE.

Steve

Don't forget three letters: BAR

Mr. Browning also brought us the .30 cal. MG and "Ma Deuce" -- the .50 cal. heavy machine gun that is still in use today.

And, I suspect the .50 will be around for quite awhile longer.

What about MG42? Lots of current designs are pretty close to its original design.

BAR is a good choice too.

Firearms, in a general sense, are only as good as those who use them. But from a purely personal standpoint, here's my choices:

Colt .45 automatic pistol. Best designed handgun every developed, then or now.
M1 Garand. Nothing more needs said here, unless you want to go to the M-14.
German MP40 smg. and the Russian PPSH.
MG -42, as long as you have lots of ammo and a few spare barrels handy.
.50 cal. HMG. The ultimate, hands down.
The German 'potato masher' stick handgrenade, for throwing distance.
The Amercican bazooka, and German panzerschreck and panzerfaust.

M-14? Think I'll choose the FN-FAL!

Colt .45. Used in WWI too, but I think it counts for WWII too! How about a Luger?

Potato Masher better than the Pineapple? What do you guys think.

Steve

I'll go with:
... U.S - M1928 Thompson smg.
... German - Sturmgewehr 44

- ralph

With regards to the potato masher vs pineapple grenades, I agree with sgirty that you could throw a potato masher farther than a pineapple, but the pineapple was more effective in terms of explosive content and shrapnel.

[quote

Potato Masher better than the Pineapple? What do you guys think.

Steve[/quote]

I dont know anything about the effectiveness of either one. I would guess a potato masher in the hands of a European could be thrown at a greater distance with more accuracy than if he had the pineapple.
However a pineapple in the hands of an American who has grown up throwing baseballs could probally be thrown just as far and accurate.

Lt. Col. sniper,

FN FAL. D------good rifle there, as is the HK-91 too. It would be a toss up for me. Either of the three would do. When I wrote that I was thinkng of a real nice M-14 I happened to see at the local gun show last time I went. Brand new Springfield Armory standard model. Very, very nice. All but the $1200+ tag on it. If I would have thought the 'boss' wouldn't have used it on me, I would have brought it home! Ha! Would have made a real nice companion piece for my M1. Only thing I don't like about the M1 is loading it with those d------- clips. Still haven't gotten the hang of jamming them down into that open receiver area yet. Afraid I'll come back with a badly banged up thumb. The M-14's 20 rd. box would solve that. (At least that's the excuse I'm trying to use as the moment!)

Personally, from a shooting standpoint, I don't care for the Luger, although it does have a rather neat history to it. Never been impressed by the stopping power of the 9mm round in a semi automatic. I think the .45 auto is tops in the design field too, esp. one that has been tuned a little here and there. Of course it takes time, money and a commitment to learn how to handle any firearm properly, but that is the same for any gun a person intends to shoot or have in their home for defensive purposes. H--- I'd have a Desert Eagle .50 for home defence if I wasn't afraid of blowing away the neighbors' houses while trying to defend my own from some low-life. But this is just a personal preference here

Take care, sgrity

Hope you are able to pick up an M-14 sometime. If you need to 'justify' it, tell the General its for Homeland Defense!

But, next time you see one the tag will be $1,400. You know the way those prices only go up... But it sure would be one heck of a reliable battle rifle.

I saw the DSA FAL's and was thinking how I could swing that. Start at about $1,500, but I hear they are really nice.

About the Desert Eagle, I've shot those and I can hardly get my hands around the grips - let alone pull the slide back! That's a 'man's man' weapon.

Steve

I think the M14's price is driven by Marine nostalgia -- the thing's not really THAT good!

Besides, I thought we were talking World War II -- you can pick up a nice Garand for less than a grand, a decent German Mauser 98k for less than $ 500, pistols and everything else are high.

If you want to buy a German rifle, make sure the serial numbers match if you are paying premium prices. If the numbers are mis-matched, it doiesn't mean it's an inferior weapon, it just means the price should be much less than a matched-serial rifle.

Sporterized Mausers are even cheaper, if you like. Swedish, Spanish, Argentine, etc., are all over the place but are generally cheap. Check on-lne prices to get your range before you drop your cash at a gun show.

Any Pre-Ban weapons are TOO expensive anymore. There are a finite number available and people will pay top dollar for something they really want.

I mean, I saw an $8,000 TV at the electronics store today. Personaly, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

If you can get me any decent, shootable German (not Yugo) K98 for under $500, let me know where to send my check!

Steve

PS - Any Arisaka fans out there?

I was lucky enough that my wife and kids went together here last father's day and bought me a Romanian M-48, which is supposed to be a post-war Kar 98 with a few minor improvements. Took the boy and I about two hours to really clean all the grease and other packing preservatives out of and off of it before we could even think about shooting it safely.

It is a very nice weapon, but it kicks like an army mule!!!! I don't think I've ever shot a rifle that literally 'beats the crap' out of a person's shoulder like this one does. When they bought the gun he also picked up 500 rds of the 7.92mm or 8mm ammo as well. (Not sure what the proper designation for this round is now.) After I had fired a couple of rounds I checked the cases for any signs of excessive pressure, just in case the ammo was bad, but nothing there to show any problems. Guess it's just the nature of the gun. Of course that steel butt plate doesn't help any either. If I shoot it this year I'm going to have to get a shoulder pad system either on it or on me.

Now the M1 doesn't have nearly as bad of a kick to it. Of course it weighs more and does have the gas system that helps to relieve some of it's energy, but it is a whole lot more pleasant to shot compared to the M-48. The M1 has a 'push' to it as compared to a literal 'kick.' As I said, the only think that has us concerned now is how to load those clips without busting up some fingers doing it. There has to be a 'trick' here someplace.

I happened to correspond with an individual on another site who was in the Marines and he said that the M-1 and M-14 were used quite extensively in Viet Nam as sniper weapons and that in a skilled marksman's hands a good accurized M1/M-14, with match ammo, can compete with a bolt action in long range accuracy. Now I didn't know that, as I always figured that they bolt actions as much superior to the semi-autos at long range.

Yes, the Desert Eagle is one big Mother of a gun. I've been trying to talk my son into getting himself one of these things so the old man can take a shot or two out of it. Of course I've also been trying to, good naturedly, edge him toward one of those Baris .50 semi autos too, But he has a lot more common sense that I do. Esp. since he would be paying for it. Ha, ha!

take care, sgrity.

My vote also goes for the MG-42. We based our M-60 machine gun off of it, and as a "HOG" humper what else is there to add

Sturmgewehr 44. is the best i think.

The only thing that comes to mind right now is the BAR 7.62mm.

As far as quality goes, perhaps the best sub-machine gun of the war was the Italian Beretta Model 1938. The weapon was well balanced and very accurate for its type to the point that it was often used in semi-automatic mode, effective to 300m, as opposed to the M1 carbine's 100. The Model 1938 continued to be made with quality throughout the war, which limited production, but even after Italy's surrender, German and Allied soldiers prized the weapon.

Just thought I'd add something a little different into the mix :-)

Nic

What about the old COLT 45. The best pistol the U.S. Army ever had. They had no reason to get rid of it.